The Pendulum, September 29, 2021, Edition by The Pendulum

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Elon News Network

THE PENDULUM

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 Elon, North Carolina Volume 51, Edition 7

WITHOUT A ^

TRACE

Faculty, students express concerns over positive COVID-19 cases on campus amid different safety protocols from previous year Nyah Phengsitthy | Elon News Network | @nyahphengsitthy

20-MINUTE PHONE CALL WITH the university left junior Rachel Goldstein anxious. Three weeks into the semester, Goldstein tested positive for COVID-19, but it wasn’t the virus that concerned her the most; it was the

personal contact tracing she had to conduct. Throughout her phone call with the university, Goldstein was not asked for a list of close contacts. “The whole thing was in my hands,” Goldstein said. “Testing was in my hands, letting my friends know that I tested

positive was in my hands and letting my professors know I tested positive was in my hands. I feel essentially as if Elon had just thrown in the towel.”

See TRACE | pg. 4

Passing of Elon student and friend sparks conversation Students use Suicide Prevention Month to reflect on their friendship with James Markley, who died by suicide in January Annemarie Bonner Elon News Network

Paris Taliadouros first met James Markley freshman year. Taliadouros was struggling with the transition to college and being away from home. When he found Markley, they immediately clicked, forming bonds over exercise and other

NEWS • PAGE 8

shared interests. Taliadouros has always been invested in mental health because of his mom’s work with the subject, but when he lost his best friend Markley, to suicide, his perspective instantly changed. “He felt like there was no other option for this pain. He didn’t want to go through it anymore. He didn’t want to try to do it,” Taliadouros said. “He was just over it. He just felt like leaving was the only option.”

Yik Yak raises concerns about student mental health

See PREVENTION | pg. 7

COURTESY OF PARIS TALIADOUROS

Left to right: Noah Jordan, Paris Taliadouros and James Markley enjoy the snow together during their freshman year at Elon.

LIFESTYLE • PAGE 9

One student shares her experience during Alopecia Awareness Month

SPORTS • PAGE 11

Soccer legend Carli Lloyd reflects on her approach to the sport

extras

Wednesday September 29, 2021

CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY WEEK CALENDAR Campus Sustainability Week is an opportunity for Elon students, faculty and staff to come together to examine sustainable habits, particularly as they relate to energy use, and inspire positive sustainable change throughout the Elon community.

MONDAY OCT 4

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

2-3 p.m.

11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

3-6 p.m.

2-3 p.m.

Tree Walk

Pop Up Swap Shop

Authentically Alamance Farmers’ Market

Greener Cleaner

OCT 5

1:30-3:30 p.m. Landfill on the Lawn Phi Beta Kappa Plaza

OCT 6

Moseley Center

Historic Neighborhood

OCT 7

OCT 8

Daniel Commons

Elon Community Church

2-3:30 p.m.

7-8 p.m.

Sustainable Room Spray

Keynote Speaker, Danielle Purifoy: The Long Fight for Environmental Justice in North Carolina

Giveaway Moseley Center

5:30-7 p.m.

McKinnon Hall/Moseley

Eco-Grief Tending in Community

6-7 p.m.

5-6 p.m.

Mindful Eating

Grow your own Sprouts!

9-10 p.m.

6-7 p.m.

5:30-6:30 p.m.

S’mores with Outdoors

Plant Powered Painting

Meditation in the Garden

Loy Farm

Beck Pool Patio

Medallion Plaza

Loy Farm

3-5 p.m.

Bike to Burlington

Numen Lumen Pavilion

Registration required to attend the event

corrections There are no corrections for the previous issue of The Pendulum.

THE PENDULUM KYRA O’CONNOR

A PUBLICATION OF

Established 1974 Volume 51, Edition 7 Elon News Network is a daily news organization that includes a newspaper, website, broadcasts and podcasts. Letters to the editor are welcome and should be typed, signed and emailed to enn@elon.edu as Word documents. ENN reserves the right to edit obscene and potentially libelous material. Lengthy letters may be trimmed to fit. All submissions become the property of ENN and will not be returned.

Executive Director of Elon News Network

NYAH PHENGSITTHY

Managing Editor of The Pendulum

ELLIS CHANDLER

News Director of Elon Local News

SOPHIE ROSENTHAL

Chief Copy Editor

CLARE GRANT

Video Production Manager

BEN MUSE

Analytics Director

EMMA FARRELL

Design Chief

DELANEY DANIELS

Photo Editor

GRAYSEN SHIRLEY

Politics Editor

MIRANDA FERRANTE

Lifestyle Editor

JACOB KISAMORE

Sports Director

Rayna Russo, Sydney Koopman and Betsy Schlehuber contributed to the design of this edition. Madalyn Howard, Olivia Romano, Samantha Sussman, Abigail Hobbs, Caroline Mitchell, Anna Topfl, Gram Brownlee, Alexa Ferraiuolo and Ryan Kupperman contributed the copy editing of this edition.

EDITORIAL POLICY: ENN seeks to inspire, entertain and inform the Elon community by providing a voice for students and faculty, as well as serve as a forum for the meaningful exchange of ideas.

WHEN WE PUBLISH: The Pendulum publishes weekly on Wednesdays

Elon Local News broadcasts Mondays at 6 p.m.

ELN Morning broadcasts Thursdays at 10 a.m.

ENN On Air CORRECTIONS POLICY: ENN is committed to accurate coverage. When factual errors are made, we correct them promptly and in full, both online and in print. Online corrections state the error and the change at the top of the article. Corrections from the previous week’s print edition appear on this page.

broadcasts Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m.

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Contact corrections@elonnewsnetwork.com to report a correction or a concern.

extras

| photos of the week|

Wednesday September 29, 2021

Elon freshman Celyz Berroa poses as Lady Liberty with various pride flags at the GLC BI-CE Cream Social.

ERIN MARTIN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Two-time World Cup Champion and guest speaker Carli Lloyd sits on the Schar Center stage at Elon University on Sept. 24 during Fall Convocation.

ADDIE BUCCO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Carey Harwood and Chip Newton, professors of music, perform “Joseph, Joseph” on guitar at the Music Faculty Gala in Whitley Auditorium on Sept. 24.

Elon cheerleaders Kelsey Williams and Sophia Del Priore play with a dog at Elon Phoenix Fourth Friday.

ERIN MARTIN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Elon senior Haylie Clark sets the ball during the match against the University of Delaware in the Schar Center on Sept. 25. The Phoenix beat the Blue Hens in five sets.

NEWS

Wednesday September 29, 2021

INCONSISTENT CONTACT TRACING LEAVES STUDENTS CONCERNED CURRENT TOTAL ACTIVE CASES ON CAMPUS

TRACE | from cover Along with Goldstein, Elon News Network spoke to nine other students who said neither the university nor a local health official directly asked for a list of close contacts after testing positive. The students also stated that they were not asked later during their quarantine period for close contacts. According to Healthy Elon, the university has continued the practice of contact tracing from last year –– working with an individual who tested positive to identify and provide support to contacts who may been infected through exposure. Close contacts are considered people who have been within six feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more, or a confirmed positive COVID-19 case, regardless of their vaccination status. “The university continues to partner with the Alamance County Health Department on contact tracing — meaning when a positive case is identified, there is an outreach effort to those who have been in close contact with that person who has tested positive,” said Assistant Vice President for News and Information Owen Covington in an email to Elon News Network.

“

YOU WOULD THINK THAT DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC THAT HAS LASTED FOR THIS LONG THAT THE UNIVERSITY WOULD DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO LIMIT THE SPREAD. I THINK THAT THEY DEFINITELY SHOULD HAVE CONTACT TRACED AS IT COULD PREVENT FURTHER CASES AND PERHAPS SHOW HOW I GOT IT. NOAH BRUNS JUNIOR

The Alamance County Health Department declined to comment on its work with the university for its contact tracing process. But according to some Elon students who have tested positive this semester, the tracing isn’t happening. Facing the same situation as Goldstein, junior Noah Bruns said he was not only concerned about the university not asking for a list of contacts when he tested positive this semester, but also about the discomfort of not knowing where he contracted COVID-19 from in the first place. “You would think that during a global pandemic that has lasted for this long that the university would do everything possible to limit the spread,” Bruns wrote to Elon News Network. “I think that they definitely should have contact traced, as it could prevent further cases and perhaps show how I got it.” According to Healthy Elon, vaccinated individuals who have been in close contact

Students

Employees

7 Day Average

100 75 50 25 0 9/21/21

9/22/21

with a positive case but do not have symptoms are not directed to quarantine. Those who are unvaccinated and have been in close contact with a positive case will be required to quarantine for up to 14 days after last contact. “When a close contact is identified that is not vaccinated, they are notified of their status and given options for quarantine,” Director of Student Outreach Paul Tongsri wrote to Elon News Network. “Those who are vaccinated are still notified of their exposure and given advice on how to proceed safely even if they are not expected to physically quarantine.” Despite Tongsri’s claim, Goldstein and Bruns both said their vaccinated roommates and friends were never notified by anyone that they were in close contact with a positive case.

Eliminating mandatory weekly testing

The university stopped mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing this year for vaccinated students. In a Healthy Elon Q&A on Sept. 22, Dean of Students Jana Lynn Patterson said that changes in safety approaches from last year are attributed to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Because of Elon’s 96% undergraduate and 91% full-time employee vaccination status, mandatory testing is not needed. Patterson did not respond to Elon News Network’s multiple requests for comment or an interview. “The CDC does not recommend regular surveillance testing for vaccinated people,” Patterson said in the Q&A. “It’s not a good use of testing resources, which again are a short supply, and there’s no epidemiological reason to do widespread testing on highly vaccinated communities like Elon. That certainly has been reinforced by our state and local health authorities as well.” While testing is available for students who need it, and is still required for unvaccinated university members, professor of religious studies Lynn Huber said safety efforts like campus-wide weekly testing should still be conducted. “I would like to see us doing everything that we can,” Huber said. “I know that doing weekly testing would be really expensive, and I understand that we already put a lot of money into COVID protocols — and we spent a lot of money last year — but I would love to see us doing everything that’s possible.”

Balancing mental health

Goldstein said she felt that COVID-19 safety measures from the previous year,

9/23/21

9/24/21

9/25/21

such as weekly testing and more contact tracing, should make a bigger appearance this year. For Goldstein, this is not just to make some parts of campus safer and more comfortable, but also to assist with student mental health as they face college life during a pandemic. “We already have enough pressure and enough anxiety about all of this,” Goldstein said. “By having the university inform people, it takes the pressure off of you.” That anxiety and pressure was evident for English professor Tita Ramirez at the beginning of the school year. For Ramirez, it wasn’t necessarily the possibility of COVID-19 positive cases that worried her, but the lack of information she received from the university about the removal of weekly and random testing, and according to her students, the lack of contact tracing. “I’ve been a little worried that we haven’t had the behind-the-scenes info delivered to us,” Ramirez said. “From what I hear, that’s what people are craving more than anything … Just having info helps with the mental health status. People feel safer because they understand.” While Ramirez was informed later on about why Elon is conducting particular COVID-19 safety protocols compared to the previous year, she’s concerned other Elon community members might have not yet received information that could possibly take away negative feelings surrounding Elon handling the pandemic. “As a faculty member, I do have the privilege of knowing when someone is positive in class, but my students don’t,

9/26/21

and I do think that’s something to think about,” Ramirez said. Though he lives in a single dorm room, sophomore Julian St. John said there is a weight put on students when they don’t know who is positive, whether it’s someone in their class or living down the hall from them. “The majority of the people are vaccinated and we’re all wearing masks, but that doesn’t mean there’s still no risk,” St. John said.

Increasing numbers

Students who spoke to Elon News Network about their positive cases also raised the concern that they were around both vaccinated and unvaccinated students who could have been infected with an asymptomatic case. “Just because we aren’t reporting the number doesn’t mean that people aren’t sick,” Goldstein said. “We’re essentially lying to ourselves as a university.” As COVID-19 cases continue to be reported on campus, testing is available for students with the university. As of Sept. 27, there are 16 active student cases and three faculty cases. Alamance County’s positive case numbers continue to rise with 66 new cases in the area since Sept. 27. “I can’t imagine dealing with being COVID-19 positive and dealing with the contact tracing at the same time,” Huber said. “There’s some anxiety, so I agree that at least doing contact tracing is one way students can be supported during this time.”

5 Intersect Conference provides a space for discussion and education NEWS

Wednesday September 29, 2021

The conference for diversity education and leadership training features a keynote address from Nina Berglund Madison Powers Elon News Network

According to junior Nadine Jose, being able to learn about experiences different from her own is one way to break out of the Elon bubble and gain new perspectives. That’s why Jose chose to attend the Intersect Conference when she was a freshman. Her interest in diversity and leadership has sparked since then. A f t e r attending the conference for the first time, Jose has taken on leadership roles and is Nina Berglund now one of three student coordinators who will run this year’s Intersect Conference on Oct. 1 and 2. She will work alongside junior Maddy Starr and sophomore Valentina Echavarria. Chosen by student leaders, the theme

CHEAT SHEET

for the conference is from Moments to MOVEments. According to Jose, choosing a theme for the conference was not a simple process. She and her fellow leaders spent time thinking of ideas that students who attended would find relevant to today, but also big enough. “We bounced around ideas and landed on from Moments to MOVEments because, in light of Stop API Hate and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movements and a variety of different things, we just thought it would be really pertinent. Elon talks about wanting to make global citizens, and one way to do that is taking things that matter on this campus and launching them into something bigger for the future.” These students were also in charge of choosing this year’s keynote speaker — Nina Berglund, indigenous youth leader and climate activist. While Tokata Iron Eyes, member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and climate activist, was the original speaker, she now is unable to attend. According to Jose, Iron Eyes was chosen for her work with climate justice and sustainability, both of which are important to Elon. “Oftentimes movements can fade or we don’t see how a movement like sustainability could intersect with diversity, and Tokata obviously just has a great grasp on that,” Jose said. The Intersect Conference generally draws around 300 participants — many from other universities. This conference’s sessions will include a wide range of topics such as leadership and humility, admissions, and higher education.

Sylvia Muñoz, director of the Center for Racial, Ethnicity and Diversity Education and interim assistant dean of students, said that there have been changes made to the conference this year. Most of the participants will be Elon students instead of students from other universities and many of the presentations will be done by Elon faculty. “This year, most of the proposals are from Elon faculty and staff, although students can also present,” Muñoz said. “Because it is a membership between Center for Leadership and CREDE, we try not to have emphasis on only one sector,” Jose said. “We really do want to talk about how leadership intersects with equity, inclusion and diversity.” Both Jose and Muñoz said the Intersect Conference provides a space for new discussion, education and community building “To us, this conference is just one big learning opportunity and ability to have these tough conversations that we may want to have usually, but are not afforded the time or space or opportunities for,” Jose said. “Intersect is always just this one beautiful thing.” After the virtual Intersect Conference in 2020, the planning committee is excited to host the conference in person this year. Muñoz and Jose agree that while last year’s virtual conference attracted a large number of participants, it did not have the same engagement as the in-person conferences. However, they hope that this year will bring reinvigorated participation.

Intersect Conference Pillars:

Oppression Social Change Power & Privilege Organizational Development

THE CHEAT SHEET IS AN INTERVIEW WITH A RELEVANT EXPERT TO EXPLAIN COMPLEX TOPICS

Haitian migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border has global impacts Sandy Marshall, professor of geography, discusses conditions Haitians are facing at U.S.-Mexico border Graysen Shirley

Politics Editor | @GraysenShirley

Thousands of Haitians at the U.S.-Mexico border are seeking refuge and asylum in the United States. After the Biden administration reversed the Trump administration’s immigration policies that limited asylum and made it more difficult for migrants to receive green cards or get naturalized, many Haitians are leaving their country. Individuals are also leaving Haiti after facing numerous years of political instability and natural disasters, according to The New York Times. Elon professor of geography Sandy Marshall taught a Sandy Marshall class focused on the U.S.-Mexico border. He discusses why there has been a surge of Haitian migrants at the border and the international community’s response to this influx of migrants.

Q: What is currently happening at the U.S.-Mexico border?

“My understanding is that we’ve got a new kind of migration issue developing with Haitian asylum seekers, seeking asylum again through travel not directly from Haiti to the U.S. where they would be more likely to be turned away in the water but through Mexico [where they] are attempting to enter the U.S. that way. Many of those asylum seekers, they’re fleeing the instability from Haiti with the recent political assassinations and turmoil there and have basically started to group in

asylum-seeker camps, in which the situation is very dire. I’m hearing a lot of reports from the ground there of just really poor conditions for asylum seekers.”

Q: Why are so many Haitian migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border specifically?

“The U.S. has had a long history of involvement in Haiti, basically going back to its revolution and its independence as the first independent nation in the Western Hemisphere to get its independence through a slave revolt. But, it nevertheless have continued kind of coil presence from both Europe and in the U.S., and the U.S. has long had a lot of influence in the government there. We’re intimately and closely tied with the government of Haiti there … So, people are fleeing that situation and they’re turning to the U.S.-Mexico border, which is what allowed them probably a greater chance of having their asylum claims heard if they can make it onto the land border.”

Q: What exactly is the Biden administration doing to respond to the surge of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, and how has the international community responded?

“When the Biden administration came in, there were a lot of immigration advocates and asylum seeker advocates who were calling for basically a surge of lawyers to the border. There was an asylum seeker crisis at the border, even before this latest crisis, and we just needed more people to listen to their claims and help process the claims of asylum seekers, people violence and instability, that really didn’t materialize. … My understanding … is that the conditions are very, very poor for asylum seekers right now and that the Biden administration is not doing enough, and they’re moving too slowly to address this very pressing human need.”

Q: How have conditions migrants at the border are facing impacted conversations surrounding human rights and immigration within the international community?

“I think for a lot of observers in the international community, human rights observers, those who advocate for refugees and asylum seekers, it’s been a huge disappointment. I think in terms of a hope for a more humane border policy, what they’re seeing right now on the border is not reflective of many people’s hopes for the new administration. Again, we will see how the administration responds, but I would say there’s a lot of horror and disappointment among human rights observers on the border.”

Q: I know you previously said you had visited the border a couple of years ago. Could you explain what some of your experiences were like there and how that has impacted your viewing of the current situation at the U.S.Mexico border?

“I think we tend to think of the border in abstract terms. We think of walls and we hear numbers of this many thousand people trying to enter the border or this many dozens or hundreds of people being harmed or dying in the desert over the years. It’s very easy just to think about in the abstract terms. When you visit an asylum shelter or you witness a deportation trial or an asylum trial, you realize the very real human tragedies that are unfolding for many people. The hopes, the desperation they have to enter this country, and you begin to understand this is a very human issue that needs a humane response. I understand the need to respond to asylum crises like this through the legal frameworks, but we have to remember that the U.S. is a signatory to the international treaty on migration which requires us to allow asylum seekers into our country and to have their cases heard. We do have an obligation there.”

Q: Going forward, how will all of this affect U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy efforts internationally?

“The fact of the matter is that many asylum seekers are coming from countries where there’s political, economic instability. There’s a lot of violence and crime, and part of that is because of U.S. policy throughout the Cold War in which we backed dictatorships [and] backed right-wing groups.

We basically helped to destabilize and traumatize many of those societies and a generation or so since then people are seeking to leave those violent areas to come to our country… They have a right to do so, to claim asylum here if they can demonstrate the claim. We have an obligation to allow asylum for folks who are fleeing violence, but I think no one wants to have to leave their country out of fear of violence. And, I think we do have an obligation to help with the economic and political stability of those countries. So, that should be where diplomatic focus is, but again, that’s been slow to materialize.”

Q: Why do you feel it’s been so slow to materialize?

“There’s clearly a lot on the new administration’s plate in terms of COVID-19, and there’s certainly no shortage of crises right now. I think it’s just a matter of where the attention is being directed, but I would hope with the current influx this would prompt the administration to take a more serious look at what’s happening in the Caribbean or in Central America and how we can prevent crises like this rather than just respond to them.”

Q: How can what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border connect with community members in Alamance County?

“I think we should care about this issue on a human level in terms of any time when there are people fleeing violence and instability and seeking safety and security in our country, that requires a thoughtful response. We have a large Latinx, Hispanic-Caribbean community in the general region, in Greensboro and nearby. We have to remember that folks may have connections to many of these countries, personal connections, and we need to better understand the situations that migrants are fleeing from because the U.S. has had such a historic role in producing that instability. So, I think we can’t just respond to what’s happening right now. We have to explore the deeper roots of this crisis.”

NEWS

Wednesday september 29, 2021

Meet the candidates running in Alamance County elections Eligible voters will be able to elect new members of municipal government during the Burlington primary on Oct. 5 and on Election Day on Nov. 2. Graysen Shirley | Politics Editor Emily Sharpe Running for mayor of the town of Elon

Donna Vanhook Running for mayor of Burlington

Dejuana Bigelow currently serves as a patient access specialist at Cone Health. She said a major focus of her campaign is advocating for affordable housing within Burlington. Bigelow hopes her platform of advocacy, representation and economic growth will encourage others to share their voices and gifts.

Donna Vanhook currently serves as an associate pastor at Union Chapel United Church of Christ and is a social justice fellow with the North Carolina Black Alliance. Vanhook said major focuses of her campaign are affordable housing and increasing broadband access for students in Alamance County. Vanhook said she hopes to find ways to address and remove barriers to economic development, if elected as mayor.

KYRA O’CONNOR | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

COURTESY OF EMILY SHARPE

COURTESY OF MICHAEL WOODS

Michael Woods Running for mayor of the town of Elon

Dejuana Bigelow Running for Burlington City Council

Charlie Beasley is an assistant quality assurance manager at Tempest Aero Group. Beasley said he hopes to address economic development, public safety and community engagement in his campaign for Burlington City Council. He hopes his campaign for Burlington City Council will allow him to confront the socio-economic divide in Burlington.

Stephanie Bourland Running for town of Elon Board of Alderman

Charlie Beasley Running for Burlington City Council

Bob Byrd served on the Board of Commissioners from 2014-2018. Byrd’s major focus of his campaign will be bringing economic growth to Burlington through growing the city’s tax base and lowering taxes for small businesses. Another main focus of Byrd is to push for inclusion within the city and working with anti-racism groups.

COURTESY OF CHARLIE BEASLEY

COURTESY OF STEPHANIE BOURLAND

Randy Orwig Running for for town of Elon Board of Alderman

Bob Byrd Running for Burlington City Council

Sergeant Wendy Jordan is now retired, but served in Burlington law enforcement for over 25 years as a dispatcher detective, community police officer and supervisor. Key components of her campaign include reducing crime and improving quality of life in particular areas of the city.

COURTESY OF RANDY ORWIG

CLARE GRANT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Ian Batutis Running for mayor of Burlington

Wendy Jordan Running for Burlington City Council

Incumbent Ian Batutis was first elected as mayor of Burlington in 2015 and has served three terms as mayor. In his campaign, Baltutis said he will continue to work on key priorities he has held since he first ran for mayor in 2013, including transportation, job equality, economic prosperity and affordable housing.

COURTESY OF IAN BALTUTIS

COURTESY OF THE BURLINGTON TIMES

Walter Boyd Running for mayor of Burlington

Harold Owen Running for Burlington City Council

Walter Boyd is a retired attorney and resident of Burlington. Boyd attended Elon University, where he earned a degree in biology and chemistry, and later attended George Washington University, where he earned a degree in law.

“As the [city] manager, I’ve literally had the opportunity to work in every community in the city. I think what I bring to the table is that I believe people trust me, because people know that I’m there to try and help them,” Owen said.

COURTESY OF WALTER BOYD

COURTESY OF HAROLD OWEN

Jim Butler Running for mayor of Burlington

Ronnie Wall Running for Burlington City Council

Jim Butler is a current member of the Burlington City Council, having served in the position since 2017. While serving on the city council, he forced on issues related to city growth, quality of life and fiscal responsibility. He was born in Burlington and has been active in the community for over 25 years.

Ronnie Wall is currently the head of school at The Burlington School. He formerly served as the mayor of Burlington. Prior to becoming the mayor of Burlington, Wall served on the city council from 2005 to 2007.

COURTESY OF JIM BUTLER

COURTESY OF RONNIE WALL

Caleb Massey Running for mayor of Burlington

COURTESY OF CALEB MASSEY

Caleb Massey, born and raised in Alamance County currently serves as a Funeral Director at Lowe Funeral Home and is the founder of the non-profit Grace Hands. According to his campaign website, as mayor, Massey will “take a proactive, not reactive, approach to uniting this community, growing economic opportunities to Burlington, and making this city safer once again.”

NEWS

Wednesday September 29, 2021

MEMBERS OF THE ELON UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY REFLECT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF

SUICIDE PREVENTION

COURTESY OF PARIS TALIADOUROS

Taliadouros said he honors his friend James Markley (middle) by trying to destigmatize suicide through creating conversations with others around the Elon community that evoke change.

PREVENTION | from cover Taliadouros said he felt isolated, angry and confused as to how this could have happened. When he was placed into COVID-19 quarantine after Markley died, Taliadouros used that time to reflect and start taking care of himself, as he knew Markley would have wanted. Taliadouros said Markley was happy and full of life, until his struggles placed him in a dark place. This is the case for many young adults, as suicide is one of the leading causes of death for young adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taliadouros’ way of honoring his best friend is by destigmatizing suicide, creating conversations that can evoke change and being there for anyone who needs help, regardless of if he knows them. He wants people to stop avoiding hard topics because he feels more people will reach out if they think it has become less taboo. “It gives me pleasure in trying to tell other people Suicide Awareness Month and also suicide awareness in general should be more important because the statistics are crazy,” Taliadouros said. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the United States lost over 47,500 people to suicide in 2019. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, men are 3.6 times more likely to die by suicide than women. Another friend of Markley, club rugby President Ryleigh Cornelius, said men’s mental health is important and something his friends improve in by coming to him to talk about what they may be experiencing. Markley was a part of club rugby and joined his first

“

EVEN IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN’T TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE, CALL THE HOTLINE, JUST REACH OUT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. DON’T BECOME INDULGED IN THOSE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. PARIS TALIADOUROS FRIEND OF JAMES MARKLEY

year at Elon. Over the summer of 2020, Cornelius said he and Markley grew closer, by bonding over sports and working out. He also said what impacted him the most was seeing how much the team meant to Markley during his funeral, translating that into how they now pay tribute to him, by chanting his name every practice. “They literally had the whole front area blocked out for us. I was sitting at the front row at his funeral. It was insane to just have that experience. There was a jersey with all these different rugby things on it,” Cornelius said. “Just to have all of that out there and to see what we meant to him was definitely really impactful. It kind of made me realize, you know, being the next president of the team that I needed just needed to be something that wasn’t forgotten about.” Not only did Markley leave a personal impact on Taliadouros and Cornelius, but Taliadouros said James gave him motivation to keep going. When Taliadouros first met Markley, he learned that Markley was the first person in his family to go to college, and Taliadouros promised himself that he would help Markley graduate. While he can not do that now, he wants to make sure he graduates and doesn’t give up when school becomes too much. He wants others to know it is okay not to be okay. “Even if you feel like you can’t talk to other people, call the hotline, just reach out as much as possible. Don’t become indulged in those negative thoughts,” Taliadouros said. “You can reach out to other people, because other people really want to help you. That’s the number one thing that they really want to do.”

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES Counseling Services 336-278-7280 National Suicide Prevention Hotline 800-273-8255 Campus Police 336-278-5555

COURTESY OF PARIS TALIADOUROS

Markley (second from the right) and his friends have dinner during his time at Elon. Markley’s friends reflect on time spent with him and now work toward destigmatizing suicide.

NEWS

Wednesday September 29, 2021

Details

ANONYMITY

130

CALAMITY

6 HOURS

Negative comments are commonplace on Yik Yak, raising concern about student mental health Cailey Cetani Elon News Network

Scrolling through the newly reintroduced app Yik Yak, one can see a multitude of relatable posts, or “yaks,” as they’re known to users. Posts range from comments on the dining halls, to how they are spending the weekend, to calling out loud neighbors. But some content posted involves harsh comments on people’s appearance, what organization they are affiliated with and spreading rumors that can damage a person’s reputation on campus. In light of controversial posts on the anonymous social media app, there are concerns on how it is affecting student mental health. Social media experts, students and psychologists comment on how they think Yik Yak is affecting campus. Some of the negative posts found on Yik Yak include bullying, hate speech and street harassment. These posts, when read, can affect multiple users on the app causing many to have negative mental health repercussions. Molly Zlock, Elon’s director of HR compliance, equal opportunity and Title IX, said that the university has reported negative comments on Yik Yak, involving street harassment, hate speech, bullying, sexism and racism. Zlock said that the anonymity of the posts on Yik Yak causes a problem for the university to effectively respond to the comments. Zlock adds that there are systems in place at the university where those comments can be anonymously reported and be better handled — especially when there is name-dropping involved. Sophomore Lily Castraberti said that social media has affected her mental health, specifically pointing to the platform as a facilitator of negativity. “Yik Yak in particular, because it’s centered around Elon, makes it more negative,” Castraberti said. “I just think that having it on my phone made me kind of addicted to it.” Katrina Jongman-Sereno, professor of psychology, said that although mental health of the user is studied in institutions, there are some psychological and mental health consequences that we don’t

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see. Jongman-Sereno said there are both positive and negative sides to social media. On the positive side, it can increase belonging. However, on the negative side, it encourages social comparison, self doubt and imposter syndrome. And what one user could see as a cathartic way to get a thought out could turn out to be more harmful than beneficial. “The research has shown that catharsis can often backfire,” Jongman-Sereno said. “And instead of it being a relief, it actually just makes you more likely to do that behavior again, so that people who are using these anonymous apps to post negative information might actually be just facilitating that in the future.” Castraberti said that some of the negative comments she has seen involve organizations on campus. “Obviously, you’re not going to believe everything you read online,” Castraberti said. “And most of these things are fake or just made to like, up vote, or whatever, to make them seem more popular.” Ilyssa Salomon, professor of psychology, said that when a user of Yik Yak reads a negative comment, it can be hurtful when it is directed towards them. In addition, reading a negative comment directed toward the user is equally emotionally damaging as to when someone said something negative to a person’s face. “Social media kind of hijacks existing psychological mechanisms and experiences,” Salomon said. “It’s not that it’s creating a whole new human experience, it’s that it’s basically an optimized way for us to engage.” In Jongman-Sereno’s research, it was shown that people are biased to see a connection between authenticity and positive behaviors. This means people are more likely to say that the positive things that they do are truly representative of themselves and distance themselves from the negative behavior they present. This can cause deindividuation where anonymity is present, and people are more reckless in their actions. “We don’t say everything that’s on our mind or we tailor the things that we’re saying when we realize that there’s an audience,” JongmanSereno said. “But when we feel anonymous, it kind of takes away that filter. And so people act a lot more aggressively and say things that they wouldn’t normally say if their identity was salient. And so that can lead to a lot more antisocial and harmful behaviors.”

EMMA FARRELL | DESIGN CHIEF

Students have used Yik Yak itself to express concerns about the app’s effect on mental health.

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I THINK EVERYBODY JUST NEEDS TO KEEP IN MIND THAT WHEN YOU’RE POSTING SOMEBODY’S NAME OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFYING SOMEBODY, THAT IT’S A REAL HUMAN BEING. MOLLY ZLOCK DIRECTOR OF HR COMPLIANCE, EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND TITLE IX

Jongman-Sereno said that a cause for people to post comments that may be more personal could be due to the fact that there isn’t a platform set up for them to speak up or that it is not in their best interest to use the existing platform to speak up. “I think that part of the reason why students turn to apps like Yik Yak … is because they don’t necessarily have trust in the systems that currently exist,” Jongman-Sereno said. “It is giving students an outlet to post certain information that might not come out otherwise. But at the same time, there’s been no process in place to help those students or to reach out to those students” Salomon said that there are a lot of different intentions for why people anonymously post. However, when a post goes too far, it can lead to severe repercussions. “It can be a pretty daunting consequence of making a claim against someone else, or claiming that someone did something, whether they did or not,” Salomon said. “Putting that information out there can have social consequences and legal consequences, potentially.” Castraberti gave very clear advice to other social media users in regard to Yik Yak. “I would say don’t download it, just because there are a lot of false stories and false negative things that go on it,” Castraberti said. “A lot of rumors get started that way about certain people and it can really hurt someone’s reputation.”

Wednesday, september 29, 2021 | page 9

LIFESTYLE ELON STUDENT ADVOCATES FOR ALOPECIA AWARENESS

DELANEY DANIELS | PHOTO EDITOR

Sophomore Samantha Katz shows one of her favorite wigs. With September being Alopecia Awareness Month, Katz said she believes this is the time for others to really educate themselves more about the autoimmune disorder.

Elon sophomore Samantha Katz shares her story during Alopecia Awareness Month Claire Schoenfeld

Elon News Network | @clairepsch

Elon University sophomore Samantha Katz spent over 14 years using different treatments to combat hair loss due to alopecia, but at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to go completely bald. At the same time, Katz decided to start a YouTube channel to spread information, tips and tricks for those living with alopecia. Katz, who was diagnosed when she was five years old, wanted to combine her love for making videos with alopecia awareness. Her YouTube channel, which boasts almost five thousand views, has turned into a space to not just promote awareness, but to share experiences and advice she feels is valuable for others in similar situations. “I thought if I were younger what would I have wanted to tell myself or what do I want to tell younger people now,” Katz said. “Also for parents to see someone who has it and is young and thriving and wants to help people … I think it’s good for anyone to see.” September is alopecia awareness month. Alopecia affects up to 6.8 million Americans, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes patchy to total hair loss on the scalp, face and other parts of the body. While there is no cure for alopecia, there are treatment options to help hair regrowth. During her time at Elon, Katz has chosen to stay bald and said she doesn’t feel a need to wear a wig. Katz said often gets noticed around campus, even by people she doesn’t know because of how outspoken she was on her social media before arriving at Elon. Katz said that she’s even been complimented by faculty and staff for her confidence to be bald. “Elon dining hall staff are some of the nicest. They would always say ‘Yes! You go girl, I love it,’” Katz said. “One of them even gave me a hat, which I thought was the sweetest thing.” Katz said she has always been confident

and open to talk about her alopecia story, even as a young child. Samantha’s mother, Cindy Katz said she started to notice patchiness in Samantha’s hair around the age of four and took her to multiple doctors and dermatologists to find out what was wrong. By the age of five, Samantha had lost all of her hair. Cindy said she was both sad and scared when she received her daughter’s diagnosis, especially having never even heard of alopecia before.

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BEING BALD DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU HAVE CANCER OR YOU’RE SICK WITH A LIFETHREATENING ILLNESS. ALOPECIA JUST MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE HAIR AND HONESTLY IT’S SOMETIMES BETTER. SAMANTHA KATZ SOPHOMORE

“It was like a new word in my vocabulary,” Cindy said. “I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to stop it, what the treatment was, will her hair grow back, or is it all going to fall out. There’s a lot of unknowns with alopecia.” Cindy said she was worried about how potential friends, employers or partners would react to Samantha’s baldness. Despite those fears, Cindy said Samantha’s confidence has been inspiring to witness, especially with the creation of her YouTube channel. “It’s awesome. She really wants to promote awareness and to inspire people to not hide who they are and embrace their alopecia,” Cindy said. “She wants to send a message that you don’t need hair to be beautiful and confident and to do anything you want to do.” Samantha said she hopes people look

COURTESY OF SAMANTHA KATZ

Pictured here with her parents, Katz was diagnosed with alopecia when she was five years. As she grew into a teenager, she began a YouTube channel to raise awareness about alopecia.

beyond her YouTube channel to learn about alopecia and how baldness is not synonymous with being sick. “It’s more common than you think and it looks so similar to other things,” Samantha said. “Being bald doesn’t mean that you have cancer or you’re sick with a life-threatening illness. Alopecia just means you don’t have hair and honestly it’s sometimes better.” For more information about alopecia visit naaf.org or aad.org/alopecia.

SCAN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALOPECIA OR VISIT AAD.ORG/ALOPECIA

BY THE NUMBERS

6.8M

Americans have been affected by alopecia, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

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lifestyle

Wednesday September 29, 2021

THE ELON BITE IS A COLUMN THAT REVIEWS RESTAURANTS AND FOOD VENDORS IN THE LOCAL AREA

ELON EATS

Taaza Indian Bistro’s 555 chicken is what your taste buds need

Eddie Keefe

Freshman

IF YOU GO Taaza Indian Bistro Where: 3252 S Church

St, Burlington, NC 27215 When:

Monday - Thursday: 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. 5 - 9:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday: 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. 5 - 10 p.m. Sunday: 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. 5 - 9 p.m.

This week I tried Indian food for the first time at Taaza Indian Bistro, a local restaurant just eight minutes away from Elon University’s campus. The wait time for food was long, but it was worth it knowing how much effort they put into every dish. To start, I had the 555 chicken appetizer, which were chicken strips coated in rice flour with light spices, sautéed with creamy basil sauce. The 555 chicken was the perfect way to introduce me to this cuisine, as it was delicious and colorful. Though I was expecting a basil creamy flavor from the dish, I tasted more of a spicy barbecue flavor instead, which I was okay with. For my entree, I ordered the tikka masala char-barbecued chicken, which was served with a tomato sauce on a bed of rice. The tikka masala sauce was not spicy at all and was easy to eat. The sauce is a tomato base with spices which had the perfect taste with the chicken. If you’re afraid of spices, I highly recommend to get the butter sauce with your protein instead of tikka masala sauce, knowing they’re substitutes and the butter sauce is less spicy. The menu also gave either lamb or salmon as the choice of meat. Every entree comes with white rice and a big plate to lay the rice out and then pour the meat and sauce over it. I also ordered the cheese naan bread, which was made with fresh pita bread filled with melted cheese. I dipped the bread into the tikka

masala sauce for more flavor, but even without it, it was delicious. This side is a new guilty pleasure of mine. Last but not least, I got the ghee roast, which is a crepe rolled out with a twist of butter. It looked nothing like I expected, as it could barely fit on the table due to its size. The ghee roast was more like a giant crunchy chip than it was like a buttered crepe. It tasted like a toasty Cheez-it and came with dosa sauce which I didn’t think complimented the dish at all. Though it was the most spicy food I had at the restaurant, the flavors were amazing and had the perfect amount of tang. I would rate Taaza Indian Bistro an 8.7/10 for the delicious food, kind staff and comfortable indoor seating. I would reorder everything but the ghee roast because of its taste and size. Taaza was the perfect introduction to Indian cuisine and I look forward to my next visit. If you have any questions or a review idea, please reach out to me at ekeefe5@elon.edu.

EDDIE’S SCORE

8.7 of 10

Every week the restaurant reviewed is given a score out of 10.

555 Chicken from Taaza Indian Bistro.

EDDIE KEEFE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | page 11

A CONVERSATION WITH CARLI LLOYD

SPORTS

FALL SPORTS

MID-SEASON UPDATE

WOMEN’S SOCCER Carli Lloyd (left), engages in conversation with Elon students and staff about retirement and mental health.

The soccer legend’s thoughts on retirement, mental health Emery Eisner

Elon News Network | @eisneremery

American soccer star Carli Lloyd has seen it all, from a college career to the Olympics. Before she spoke at Fall Convocation, Elon News Network sat down with the athlete to hear her thoughts as she gets closer to retirement. The following conversation has been edited for space and clarity.

Q: The latter part of your career that you’ve had help getting through, what has that process been like for you?

“It’s crazy to kind of get to this point, the tail end where you’re hanging up your boots, and I’m no longer going to be doing something that I started doing when I was a little girl. So it’s a little bittersweet, but I am looking forward to the next chapter. I think what’s special about this is being able to dictate when I wanted to be done with my career, and sort of have this farewell of me announcing my retirement in the middle of August, and playing out the remainder of these couple of months. I think that’s been really special, but you know, this last chapter of mine has been pretty amazing. I was coming off of a knee surgery in 2020, and reconnected with my family after 12 years, reconnected with [coach] Danny, and we started working together, I just feel like everything’s kind of come full circle, and I feel very at peace and just content with everything that I’ve given over the last 16 years. And you know, just kind of soaking up these last remainder of the games that I have.”

Q: It’s been an amazing career. And you’ve got a couple more games left in the red, white and blue. What legacy do you want to leave behind?

“Yeah, I’ve got two games left with the national team, which is probably going to be very emotional. But I think ‘legacy’ is an interesting word. I think that so many people get asked about, you know, what do you want your legacy to be. And I think that that’s sort of, for other people to speak about, with what my career has meant to them or what they thought of my career. I don’t necessarily play for legacy, I’ve played because I simply love the sport and am passionate about it. I wanted to be the best soccer player that I possibly could be. And I wanted to help my team win championships. And with that, because of my approach, because of my all-in mentality, I wanted to be kind of an extremist, I wanted to do everything possible to set myself up for success. And with that, came a lot of successful moments. With that also came a lot of challenging moments. But it’s all part of my journey. And I think the most special thing is sort of just being able to navigate that through being the best version of myself, and staying true to who I am as a person and a player. But the legacy piece, I think that’s for everyone else to speak about when I’m gone and when I’m old and washed up 20 years from now, but for me that was my mindset going into it.”

Q: So, you like to play with an all-in kind of approach to the game – what made you want to come into matches with that?

“I would play every game as if it was a World Cup final, as if it was my last match I was ever playing. That’s always been my mindset. I don’t think that in order to be great, in order to be in that top 1% of greats, you can’t turn your switch on and off. My switch has been turned

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTORAPHER

on for 16 years straight. It’s training. It’s the running, it’s the diet, it’s sleep, it’s recovery. It’s studying the game, it’s finding ways to constantly evolve. You know, even in my offseason and taking a little bit of time off which hasn’t been a lot, maybe I take a quick little vacation. My mind has still always been on ways to keep improving and so because I have not turned that switch off. I have been able to reach heights that others haven’t been able to reach and I don’t think I fully have processed my career yet because I haven’t allowed myself to go there, haven’t wanted to become complacent. And I’ve always just started, always just been telling myself to just keep going, keep training and playing as if I have not accomplished anything. So I think when it’s all said and done is when I’ll reflect and look back on some of those moments.”

Overall Record: 5 - 4 CAA Record: 0 - 1

MEN’S SOCCER Overall Record: 4 - 4 CAA Record: 2 - 1

Q: What do you think you can credit to the training that you’ve done to get to this point?

“It’s a work ethic, it’s being all in, it’s never switching off, it’s you know, there’s different levels of success, and my level of success is being all in 100% of the time. There’s no cutting a run short, if I’m running for 20 minutes and cutting it short at 19 minutes and 50 seconds, like, I don’t cut anything short, I don’t cut my ice bath short, I don’t cut my recovery short, everything is calculated everything is routine based. That commitment to excellence, that’s what I have been about from start to finish. And it’s been a fun ride.”

Q: You’re speaking to college students, and you’ve been in their shoes as a student athlete. What advice do you give to them through this time?

“I think the biggest thing at this age is enjoying the journey, I think we all get caught up in, you know, just life and things that are going on. And we worry about things that don’t necessarily matter at that particular moment. But just finding a way to enjoy the moment because as I told the soccer team today, life goes by so fast, especially after you finish college and everybody says it, you know, they’re like, cherish your youth days because once you get out of college, life just moves at a rapid pace. And I think that I look back and I wish that I enjoyed the process and a little bit more enjoyed the journey, you know, kind of was more in the present moment. I think I’m finding that now towards the end of my career. But that’s what life is, life teaches us all lessons. And I think the beauty of it is that we’re all in the driver’s seat to dictate what exactly we want to do and accomplish in life.”

FOOTBALL Overall Record: 1 - 3 CAA Record: 0 - 1

Q: What are you most looking forward to as you transition out of your career, looking forward to life post-women’s national team?

“Entering this next phase, obviously, I’ve never been in this situation before. Soccer has been my number one passion, my first love. And I’ve been doing it for 34 years. And so now I’m at this point where I’m not going to be doing it anymore. I’m not going to be working on my shot and working on my first touch, I’m going to continue to stay active, I’m going to continue to probably run for the rest of my life. But I am content with my retirement announcement, because I have put so many things on hold. I haven’t skied because I haven’t wanted to injure myself. I’ve sacrificed time with my husband, vacations with him, just time to pause our life. Friends, family, traveling, just all these things that I’m just really looking forward to ... I think it’s gonna be great to now transition into this next phase, be a spectator, watch men and women’s World Cups and just enjoy it. Eventually start a family with my husband and continue to do some speaking engagements and take my clinics on the road and continue to help the next generation of players.”

VOLLEYBALL Overall Record: 9 - 5 CAA Record: 4 - 0

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